Bebo to connect subscribers with third parties: Mobile social networker targets mobile content space

Bebo launched a program designed to help operators, handset manufacturers and mobile application developers to reach its 50 million registered users.
The social networking site – which was acquired by AOL last year for $850 million – unveiled Bebo Open Mobile, a suite of tools aimed at enabling third parties to approach members through the popular service. The tools support both online and messaging applications, and include a toolkit for developer of widgets and other mobile user interfaces.
“Bebo Open Mobile is a new way to expand the power of social networking to program members,” said Sean Kane, Bebo’s global head of mobile, in a prepared statement. “A rapid and global shift towards mobile social networking consumption is in progress and Bebo is committed to leading the way.”
While Bebo’s latest effort focuses on mobile, online communities have fueled growth over the last year by embracing developers. Facebook in late 2007 became the first major social networking community to leverage an open platform, spurring the development of a host of applications that members can access, share, and add to their profiles online. MySpace followed by adopting a proprietary set of common application programming interfaces developed by Google Inc.; Bebo in turn employed Facebook’s open platform.